MARIUS BENSON: Penny Wong, the one thing we know for certain is the Senate is going to sit on Monday, but beyond that it all seems a little uncertain because the Government is not confirming that it will go ahead with any particular legislation. But theres a draft agenda out there which suggests the IR bills have been shelved. Whats your understanding of what will happen?
SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE: At the moment the Government is paralysed, arent they? Lets remember Malcolm Turnbull went to a double dissolution election for two reasons. One was he wanted to pass these industrial relations Bills. He said they were the most important economic reform. And second, to clean out the crossbench and make the Senate more manageable.
Well, weve got the IR Bills not on the agenda, the Government doesnt know whether its going to bring them back or not. And of course weve got an even bigger crossbench and now with two of them going to be referred to the Court of Disputed Returns. And thats not even addressing all of the questions the Government really needs to respond to about their chronology of their knowledge around Senator Days difficulties.
So weve got a Government, and a Prime Minister, that really is paralysed. And I think the Senate program reflects that.
BENSON: And when you look through the mists and uncertainties of those numbers, do you believe, with the two Senators, one gone, one in doubt, that the Governments task is significantly harder, or even easier?
WONG: Obviously, in this interim period, before there is a recount and two new Senators take their place, if indeed that is what happens, arithmetically you see the challenge for the Government. Assuming Senator Culleton does the right thing, as he said would do, which is to excuse himself from controversial votes, the Government now needs eight out of nine crossbenchers to pass their legislation. That obviously is a much more significant challenge than the previous Senate.
BENSON: And presumably the mystification at the moment is going to continue for some time, because it has to be resolved initially by the High Court, and even at top speed the High Court doesnt move that fast?
WONG: Thats right. I think there are two issues here which really need to be dealt with concurrently. The first obviously is the legal process, where the Government will move on Monday with our support, subject to us seeing the motion and resolving any issues there. But the Government will move, and the Senate will therefore resolve, to refer these two to the High Court, the two Senators whose elections have been questioned.
The second issue is the Government needs to be much more up front with the Australian people. They seem to think that backgrounding some journalists, some versions of the events, putting out short statements, not getting up in front of the cameras and answering all the questions that are required, is the way to deal with this. I think there are legitimate questions Australians have about how it came about that Senator Day has been involved in negotiations with this Government since 2014 about where his Electorate office would be. We know that the Finance Department recommended against the lease that is in question. We dont know who knew. We dont know which Ministers were involved in these negotiations. And more importantly, we dont know if these negotiations were part of any other negotiations in relation to votes in the Senate.
Now, all of these questions go to the functioning of our democracy. They go to the integrity of our democracy and they go to the operations of the Senate and I think it is incumbent upon the Government to be far more upfront with Australians than they have been.
BENSON: Penny Wong you are the second Senator from South Australia Ive spoken with this morning. Earlier I spoke with Cory Bernardi, hes in New York
WONG: Its much more fun to speak with me Marius
BENSON: Id better not make judgments. Cory Bernardi was speaking from New York. Hes there for three months at the United Nations, and he was expressing strong support for Donald Trump. You take a different view? You have taken a different view?
WONG: I just think it is completely inappropriate for Senator Bernardi, whilst on a taxpayer funded trip and stay in New York, representing the Australian Parliament, to get himself involved in supporting a particular candidate in the US election.
I would make the point that hes there representing Malcolm Turnbull, hes there representing Australia. He was told before he left, and Ill quote what he said "I've already been told there's no freelancing at the UN. So clearly he was told by the Prime Minister, or someone representing the Prime Minister, how he was supposed to behave. Hes thumbing his nose at Malcolm. And its not appropriate for taxpayers to be funding someone sitting in New York, representing Australia, to get themselves involved in domestic politics.
BENSON: Penny Wong, thank you very much.
WONG: Good to speak with you.